Happy Father’s Day!
It’s Father’s Day weekend so I want to wish a happy Father’s Day to my wonderful husband Vance, brothers, nephews and cousins and to all the other dads subscribed to this blog.
Us at Jeremiah’s in North Miami
Our spread at Kush Brickell
Nick and I with Lucas while Vance and Nick shot a game of pool at Kush Brickell.
Saturday was a non-stop day of fun and even though I dragged Vance to all of it, he swears he had a good time. Nick went too of course. First, we stopped into Jeremiah’s in North Miami, which I mentioned last week has been taken over by our friends Mike and Cathy Palma. We each had ice cream/gelati customized cups and they were fantabulous and perfect for a very hot day. Later in the day, we stopped into Kush Brickell where owner Matt Kushner has created an ode/homage to Tobacco Road, which used to be just two doors down, bringing over their original neon sign, the bar top and lots of other memorabilia. Michael’s childhood friend Lucas is the manager there and he was so happy to see us. He treated us to barbecue chicken nachos, fried shrooms and even brought out a brownie sundae. It was very indulgent, to say the least and it was wonderful to finally visit Lucas (he’d been asking us to stop in for a while).
There I am, with my old lady hair and my Miami Motel Stories t-shirt, working the letterpress with the help of my buddy Tom Virgin.
On the bottom is the little print wheel I made and above that, a look at the festivities that took place at the Bookleggers 14th birthday celebration.
Thought this sticker display at Bookleggers Library was pretty cool.
From there, we headed to the Bakehouse Art Complex in Wynwood to have fun at the Bookleggers Library 14th Birthday Party where I made a special print wheel with the help of my buddy Tom Virgin of Extra Virgin Press. We also watched the fun as Bookleggers founder Nathaniel and other employees hosted a “Wheel of Fourteen” game show. My sister Susy joined us for a bit too. I know I mention these places a lot in this blog but I have loved the Bakehouse Art Complex since they opened 40 years ago and love supporting them to this day. They do a lot for local artists and the planned expansion of their current space will now provide housing for those artists. If you want to know about that expansion plan, click here to read about it.
Nick and I with Shebah and Geno, right before she blew out her birthday candles.
Sunday, Nick and I spent the afternoon at his friend Geno’s house where we enjoyed pool time with his Mom Shebah and her partner Nate. We were celebrating Shebah’s birthday and they treated us to lunch and cake. It was a nice afternoon. Shebah and Nate run Panache Fitness so getting in the pool with Shebah was almost like a workout and it felt great!
Tuesday, after picking up an extra food rescue run, I stopped in at Locust Projects in Little River, another place I often mention in this blog, to see their current exhibitions “Johanna Strobel: A Bought Kingdom” and “Kelly Breez, Patty Gone: Lost Shaker of Salt.” Both are thought-provoking shows about Walt Disney World/Kennedy Space Center and Jimmy Buffet and the Margaritaville empire, respectively. The underlying message of each show is well, let’s just say, not aligned with the public perception. You can also read my Artburst Editor Michelle Solomon’s review of the Jimmy Buffet/Margaritaville exhibit here.
Cousins hangin’ at Nicole and Tariq’s house. That’s Nicholas, Jojo, Mazen and Ramzi.
Thursday, Nick and I drove up to Merritt Island straight to my niece Nicole’s house to hang with her husband and kids Mazen and Ramzi and my sister Susy, her daughter Elena and Elena’s son Jojo. Simple, fun family time with pizza, laughs and lots of talk about feng shui.
Movies to watch:
10th Anniversary of the Academy Award Best Picture winner “Moonlight” at Coral Gables Art Cinema tonight at 9 p.m.. It was filmed in Miami and co-written by Miami natives both raised in Liberty City, Tarell Alvin McCraney and Barry Jenkins, Jenkins also directed the film. McCraney is a graduate of New World School of the Arts and Jenkins attended Miami Northwestern High School. The film also won the duo the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali. I still remember watching the film with my siblings at the original O Cinema theater in Wynwood back in 2016.
Poster for the Miami-made film “Miami Magic.”
Watch the Miami-made and hilarious short film “Miami Magic” brought to life by Miami Film Lab and the all-women crew of Producer Jennifer Castellanos, Director Victoria Collado and Writers Vanessa Garcia and Natalie Birriel (Birriel also stars in the movie) by clicking here and the LGBTQ thriller “Red Light” produced by Miami’s Willie Fernandez which you can stream on Apple TV or Amazon Prime. See the trailer for “Red Light” here.
Things to Do:
And speaking of Liberty City, an area that is seeing a revitalization, the Roots Bookstore + Market is hosting a Juneteenth Book Fair today until 6 p.m., where they’ll spotlight black authors, host spoken word and much more. Of course, this is last minute notice so know that they host regular events at their space and it’s worth checking out, the place has a great vibe.
Or head to Downtown Miami and visit the Museum of Miami (formerly HistoryMiami) to see their current exhibition “Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents that Forged a Nation” a traveling exhibition presented by the National Archives featuring original founding-era documents to honor America’s 250th Birthday that is showing only through July 5. It’s a short run and tickets have to be reserved. The Museum of Miami is one of only eight museums nationwide hosting the exhibition.
And finally, I want to leave you with this link to another post on my blog about my nephew Tony’s latest project. He did most of the writing on my behalf, explaining how the program works and I started noodling around on it. I’ll let you know how that goes as I spend more time on it.
That’ll do it for this Friday. We’re planning a fun weekend around Merritt Island, Orlando and Cocoa Beach and hope to see Elizabeth at some point. Have a good weekend.
